P

Symposium 2 “Globalized Popular Culture and Intercultural Studies”

anelistCultural Studies on
the International Manga Museum
Kaichiro MORIKAWA
Associate Professor, Meiji University

Meiji University has started preparing a multi-For example, the name “university manga library”

archive facility for manga, anime, and video games, ten-brings with it a sense of malaise, whether we like it ortatively named the Tokyo International Manga Library,not. This malaise shares fundamentals with phrases re-to be completed in 2014. The Yoshihiro Yonezawa Me-

peated in the opposition party’s criticism of the Aso ad-

morial Library, a forerunning module library specializ-ministration’s National Comprehensive Media Arts

ing in manga and subculture, was opened in October ofCenter project: “Anime Palace” or “National Manga

2009. In this paper I would like bring into focus the re-Café.” What exactly is this ?

lationship between manga, the library, the university,

In the first place, the teaching of manga at univer-and government from the perspective of a writer whosity in itself is not above suspicion. Older people are es-

has been involved in this project.

pecially likely to hold the opinion that manga is not

First, I’d like to give a broad overview of the rela-something worthy of university study. Due to the facttionship between these four entities. In recent years,

that manga have been considered to be of lower rankmanga and anime have occupied a major share of thethan even general popular culture, one can say that thisJapanese culture exported overseas, and even haveis a natural reaction.

started to receive influential prizes. In response, the gov-

Conversely, it is also not always true that manga

ernment has labeled this as the promising “Content In-artists and manga fans themselves are happy that mangadustry,” and several universities have started to make it

is being taught in universities. While some welcome thisthe object of education and research. Among such uni-development, we also often hear criticisms that a uni-versities, those establishing manga libraries have started

versity education in manga doesn’t necessarily make ato appear. This can be seen at Kyoto Seika University,

good manga artist, and that the vitality of this subculture

which has a Faculty of Manga and has established thewill be lost through the authoritarianism of academia.

“Kyoto International Manga Museum”.
However, this trend exhibits various contradictions.

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These seemingly differing skepticisms both emphasize the point that universities hold a type of authority,

Kaichiro MORIKAWA

and in this respect share a common belief; manga andmedicine, engineering, literature, and science), degrees,

anime are not compatible with the authoritarian natureand professorships is basically a copy of universities inof universities. This really sums up our feeling ofEurope and America, in particular Germany. The custommalaise.

of calling classes of limited enrollment “zemi” is evidence of these roots.

So, how are universities basing this transition of

The previously imperial universities are training fa-manga and anime into a formal study? I collected thecilities for the bureaucracy in a centralized nationalist

following from the web sites of universities, and theirsystem, while other universities crank out resources for

information for prospective students.

the corporate system in an effort to divide the country“Evaluation of domestic animated film expression

into the two classes of white collar workers and manualand characteristics from an international perspective.”labor working in family-owned businesses. The corpo-(Tokyo University of the Arts, Department of Anima-rate system has made the perspective on life of “Studytion)

hard, enter a good university, enter a good company, and“Now highly praised around the world, we can now

make your hometown proud,” the norm all throughout

start truly Japanese projects in manga and anime.”

the country. Both are national policies enacted by the(Kyoto Seika University, Faculty of Manga)government in utilizing foreign influence under the ban-“Manga is the new international language.”ner of joining Western industrial economy. As a result,(Nagoya Zokei University of Art and Design, Crafts

while Japan has accomplished unprecedented economic

Course, Manga Class)growth and become a power in industrial technology,“Make a science of ‘Cool Japan’? Japanese Culture

the process has dismantled the cooperative systems andas the focus of world attention?” (Meiji University,family structures of the different regions and lost rem-

School of Global Japanese Studies)

nants of history in our city streets – the sudden influx ofWhat rises to attention from these is the framework

Western culture and lifestyle has driven previous tradi-of “Japan” and “the world,” and the fact that the mangations to extinction. Universities have functioned asof “our country” holds “international” recognition.

mechanisms to facilitate this modernization.

These are basically the same keywords introduced byAlong with universities, libraries are also facilities

the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and usedthat have a similar historical context. The Japanese wordin promotion by the government. If we highlight the fact

for library itself, toshokan, is a Chinese character con-that the government is in control of permission of uni-struction made as a translation of the English word “li-versities to start new departments, we can see that an as-brary,” and is said to have been first used for thepect of the transition of manga and anime into formal

University of Tokyo Faculty of Law Library, built in thestudy is tinged with national policy.

tenth year of the Meiji Period. Needless to say, starting

The university system in Japan was originally trans-with the concept of “nation,” the various government fa-

planted from the West in order to construct a truly Japan-

cilities and the institutions of justice, legislation, andese system in opposition to Western influence in a timegovernment themselves are prime apparatuses of thisof overwhelming external pressure after Perry’s arrival

sort.

in the Meiji Period. The system of five departments (law,In other words, of the four aspects of manga, li-61

Cultural Studies on the International Manga Museum

braries, universities, and government share roots of hav-

naturally started to become isolationist. At that time, theing come about as a result of foreign influence. This isliterate class used characters introduced from China, but

not something of the Meiji Period, but rather is stillthose broke down into the syllabary of hiragana, and it

deeply embedded today. The change in administration

became possible to represent Japanese directly in writ-of this past August, an attempt to recreate the matured

ing. Then, as we entered the eleventh century, the Japan-

British two-party system in Japan, shows that nothing

ese literary treasures of The Pillow Book and The Tale

has changed at all since the Meiji Period. This deep-of Genji were written by female authors. Culture ripens

rooted nature shows its true self with the tendency to in-over a period of several hundred years alongside exter-

voke “world acclaim” when attempting to incorporate

nal pressure and decay, away from centralization. We

manga and anime into an establishment. In final analy-

can see this process happening with Japan’s culturalsis, such institutions are aiming to bring in not simplyachievements.

manga and anime, but rather “world acclaimed mangaOn the other hand, when a nation’s culture devel-and anime.” What we need to beware of here is that suchops, there is a decaying of previously imported skills tousage is actually exerting strong foreign influence.

an inverse proportion. The aforementioned Todaiji andIf we unfurl Japan’s history even further in the past,

Great Buddha were lost to fire in the Genpei Conflict of

we can see that Japan has been repeating time and again

the twelfth century. However, the skills of the metal cast-

the phenomenon of changes in culture due to foreign in-ers and carpenters had deteriorated to the point that theyfluence. Even the country called “Japan” itself wascould not rebuild the structures of four centuries earlier.

formed due to the sudden pressure to form a country

In the end, the help of visiting Sung engineers and thecaused by expansion of the T’ang Dynasty in the second

Sung construction methods were then employed. Thenhalf of the seventh century. In this age, technology im-in the thirteenth century, Mongolian invasion pressured

ported through the Korean Peninsula enabled the build-military centralization, and even culturally Sung anding of defense installments in each region of Western

original influences became stronger.

Japan, and over the course of the eighth century Todaiji,

However, in the three centuries from the Mongolian

the Great Buddha, and Kokubunji were built through yet

invasion until the sixteenth century, once again there

another import, the religion of Buddhism, in order to sta-

was an absence of strong foreign pressure. This led tobilize the country. During that time, the technology, in-centralized authority being dispersed back to each re-stitutions, culture and Buddhism continued to begion, and paralleling this came a culturally bountiful pe-transplanted through envoys. The center of the country

riod producing tea ceremony and tea rooms, Noh, thechanged foreign pressure into political power, and therock gardens of Ryoanji, and more. Coming into the six-country of Japan came into existence through utilization

teenth century, we see the appearance in Japan of gunsof foreign culture as authority.

and Christianity along with trade with Spain and Portu-

However, in the ninth century the T’ang Dynasty’sgal, but due to a strong emotional response domestically,

power started to decline, and in Japan the cultural center

the Edo Period thrust the country into approximatelyof gravity little by little started to change from T’ang-

200 years of a policy of isolation. During that time,

like to truly Japanese, and at the end of the ninth century

while unique culture was developing, military technol-

the envoys were abolished. Surrounded by sea, Japanogy was stopped at the stage of the matchlock gun. In62

Kaichiro MORIKAWA

this way, the history of Japanese culture and skills cana deep-rooted nature of applying strong foreign influ-

be described as a repetition of foreign influence.

ence, which they very well may do. For example, they

The isolation of the Edo Period shows development

may start a suppression of the values of readers andof culture of the common people, as represented byviewers, and even artists, in favor of foreign evaluations

Kabuki and Ukiyo-e. Important to note here is the factof what are “good manga and anime” and what are “badthat rather than works of art supported by the authorities,

manga and anime.” Or, this may already have started.

led by the Karino School, it was Ukiyo-e, which was not

The common knowledge that “Hayao Miyazaki’s cre-considered fine art at the time, that was later acclaimed

ation is superb, so it won an American Academy

by the international community, and left a lasting im-Award,” can be easily transformed to, “Hayaopression. Surveying the cultural history of the world, we

Miyazaki’s creation won an American Academy Award,

see that on a large part, representative cultural advance-

so it is superb.”

ment occurs where there is authority concentrated cen-What we need to read from history is that for ad-

trally, and the strength of that authority is represented

vanced cultural achievement to occur, foreign influence

through art and architecture. China and France are ar-needs to be comparatively lenient, and maturity can only

chetypal of this. However, Japan shows an opposite pat-be reached with time counted in the hundreds of years.

tern – the arts flourish during periods when authority isAccordingly, if one wants to promote manga and anime,

not centralized and influence from authorities is low.

what is necessary is not to indiscreetly inject foreign in-When influence is applied, technical skills increase, andfluence in the form of “evaluation from the world,” butforeign arts are practiced under authority. And with a de-to construct a strategy where foreign influence on manga

crease in influence, arts start to become more truly

and anime is moderately controlled. Isolationism sup-Japanese. Seeing the present day in this light, the shiftpressed foreign influence in the past, but now a newin makeup of Akihabara shops from electronics tomethod is necessary. In order to construct such a strat-

manga, anime, and video games foreshadows a repeti-

egy, first, basic research of the current status and trends

tion of this pattern in Japanese cultural history.
And it is just now that the government and univer-needs to be done based on massive amounts of materials.

sities are starting to consider manga and anime as a new

Conversely, the embracing of manga by universities

rise in Japanese culture. While on the one hand, the Min-and libraries is not always for the purpose of industry

istry of Economy, Trade, and Industry is consideringpromotion. Since the Showa Period, manga have com-promotion through the category of a “content industry,”prised not a small percentage of the magazines andthe Agency for Cultural Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign

books that have circulated within the country, and have

Affairs, the Japan Tourism Agency, and such are usingreflected and recorded the citizens’ values, interests, andmanga and anime in their attempts to increase cultural

diversity of lifestyle. Likewise, they can be rich source

exchange and draw in more tourists from overseas. The

materials for digging into not only manga themselves,

National Comprehensive Media Arts Center projectsuch as theories about manga writers and works, but alsomentioned above must have been one part of this.

history and sociology when studying post-war JapaneseHowever, as I have explained, when governmentor the transitions in society. In order to support such aand universities embrace manga and anime, they possesswide range of scholarly research, while at the same time63

Cultural Studies on the International Manga Museum

keeping foreign influence on manga to a minimum, theout effective promotional programs. We are now in thevery best method is first to discard to one’s best ability

process of creating such infrastructure, in the form of an

the selection of books due to value judgments, and build

archive institution.

an all-inclusive archive comprising both major andminor works, as well as those considered to be inferior

Details concerning the tentatively named Tokyo Inter-as well as superior.

national Manga Library and the Yoshihiro Yonezawa

Then, when such research infrastructure has been
completed, the government and others can then for thefirst time undertake the basic research needed to carry

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Memorial Library can be found at the below Web site.
URL: http://www.meiji.ac.jp/manga/